Hacker steals Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs worth $3M in an Instagram …

Key Takeaways:

A hacker stole several valuable NFTs from collections created by Yuga Labs
The incident happened after the Instagram page of the project was compromised
It is thought that the stolen Ape & Kennel NFTs are worth $3 million

A hacker compromised the Instagram account of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and stole NFTs across Yuga Labs projects, like MAYC & Kennel Club. — Hacker steals several nonfungible from Yuga Labs projects. Credit: Yuga Labs

YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) – A hacker stole nearly 100 nonfungible tokens (NFTs), including several from the blue-chip project Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC). According to a Twitter post by the project’s official handle, someone compromised their Instagram account and posted a fake link to a mint. As a result, hackers siphoned off NFTs worth millions.

“There is no mint going on today. It looks like BAYC Instagram was hacked. Do not mint anything, click links, or link your wallet to anything,”
Bored Ape Yacht Club tweeted.

BAYC co-founder Crypto Garga also confirmed the theft on Twitter. In addition, he revealed the Instagram hack resulted in the theft of 4 Bored Apes, 6 Mutant Apes, 3 Kennel Club from Yuga Labs, and some other assorted valuable NFTs.

The IG hack resulted in 4 Apes, 6 Mutants, 3 Kennels, and some other assorted valuable NFTs being lost. We will be in contact with the users affected and will post a full post mortem on the attack when we can. For now I would like to stress that 2FA was enabled on the account. https://t.co/bsc3tHt9QG
— Garga.eth (@CryptoGarga) April 25, 2022

The cumulative value of the Yuga Labs NFTs stolen in the hack amounts to nearly $3 million. The misleading link announced users could mint “land” in OthersideMeta, a fake account of a Yuga Labs project with a blue verification tick.

OpenSea has flagged nine Bored Apes for suspicious activity.

A hacker compromised the Instagram account of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and stole NFTs across Yuga Labs projects, including MAYC & Kennel Club worth $3 million. — One of the stolen Bored Ape NFTs. Credit: OpenSea

It is unknown how the hacker was able to break into the Instagram account of the project. However, the company informed that there is no lapse of security on their part.

“At the time of the hack, two-factor authentication was enabled and security surrounding the IG account followed best practices. We’ve regained control of the account, and are investigating how the hacker gained access with IG’s team,”
they said.

NFT hacks have become commonplace

With the industry gaining traction, some investors are looking into various NFT generators to launch their collections. However, as NFTs popular, thefts and hacks also increase posing a serious threat to the reputation of the industry.

As 2021 came to a close, hackers compromised the famous Monkey King-themed nonfungible token project “Monkey Kingdom”. The hacker compromised the project’s discord and posed as a group administrator. As a result, they were able to post a fake link of a phishing website. The incident saw the theft of $1.3 million.

I‘m sorry but yoz guys fucked up big!
— Michael (@ImmoCryptoG) December 21, 2021

Last month, attackers stole $1.7 million from users after sending fake emails impersonating NFT marketplace OpenSea. Other popular thefts include phishing emails or SMS asking for wallet key phrases and security vulnerability in NFT platforms.

While Yuga Labs strives to recover the lost assets for its investors, investors should exercise caution so as not to fall victim to such scams.